Immigration Related Threats by Employers Spiking in California, Worker Advocates Say

Here are the morning’s top stories on Tuesday, September 8, 2026

• The City of Fresno will soon ban A-I data centers within city limits. That’s after the Fresno City Council on Thursday unanimously approved a resolution opposing their construction. 
• Earlier this summer, California signed off on an agreement to share state driver’s license data with a national database. Our partner CalMatters has reported the Department of Homeland Security was actively pursuing driver data from the group that manages the database, at the same time California was weighing concerns that information of non-citizens would be vulnerable in a national database.
• As the Trump administration ramps up immigration arrests to levels not seen in years, worker advocates and state officials say some employers are taking advantage of the political climate to exploit immigrant workers in lower-wage jobs. 
  

California lawmakers wrestled with a difficult question earlier this summer: Could the state safely share driver’s license data with a national group, as the federal government demanded, without exposing more than a million people to immigration and law enforcement agencies? Ultimately, amid fears that state IDs wouldn’t be accepted at airports and federal buildings, they voted to let the DMV share driver data.

Non-citizens are legally allowed to obtain driver’s licenses in California, and immigration and privacy advocates worried that information would be vulnerable in a national database.

Federal agencies first requested, then subpoenaed, bulk commercial driver data from the American Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators, or AAMVA, a nonprofit that acts as a clearinghouse for information from state motor vehicle departments nationwide. That’s the same organization California plans to entrust with all its driver records by next year.

The Trump administration’s license-data demands appear to be part of a broader and escalating crackdown on non-citizen truck drivers.

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration began in May 2025 strictly enforcing English proficiency standards. The agency also in February 2026 finalized a new rule that would block immigrants with work permits, like asylum seekers, Temporary Protected Status holders or DACA recipients, who are in the United States legally, from qualifying for commercial driver’s licenses.

“Basically, the fears of some of the advocates came to fruition here,” says reporter Wendy Fry with CalMatters, who has been following this story. “So the Trump administration was already seeking access to information about 17 million commercial drivers. The Department of Homeland Security said in their subpoena they specifically want these records because they want to do immigration enforcement.”

CalMatters reports that subpoena from DHS came to light because of a recent lawsuit.

A spokesperson for the national driver database that got the subpoena declined to comment. Governor Gavin Newsom’s office, which backed the data sharing, has said the concerns from advocates are overblown — much as it did this summer after critics warned that any California data shared with AAMVA was at risk of federal subpoena.

Francisco has made and installed windows in the Bay Area for more than 16 years, and he’s a proud father of three. But earlier this year, he couldn’t sleep. He’d burst out crying during family meals. One day, when he saw a black suburban parked near his apartment, he rushed to lock all the doors and hide.

He says his boss threatened to report him to ICE if Francisco spoke with state regulators investigating claims the company underpaid workers. KQED is withholding his full name because he does not have a legal immigration status and fears retaliation.

“Tenía miedo. Pues es traumático todo eso. Es traumatico.”

Francisco says he was afraid and traumatized. He was so stressed out, his wife took him to see a psychiatrist. Francisco ended up finding a new job. But he’s still angry about the emotional toll on him and his family.

“Sí, me da coraje por todo eso, por todas las amenazas que estuve recibiendo ahí, que me iban a echar a Migración.”

Supervisors threatening to call ICE? That’s nothing new. But with federal agents dramatically detaining so many people under the Trump Administration, workers are taking the threat seriously. And many decide it’s not worth the risk to complain about wage-theft, harassment or other workplace issues.

“But it doesn’t have to be real, it can just be said and the people are fearful,” said Jaime Arteaga with the North Coast States Carpenters’ Union. “It can be a rumor. Somebody might say we might get deported and that shuts everything down. The workers are not going to come forward.”

State figures show complaints of retaliation involving immigration threats have spiked under the first and current Trump administration. Relatively few workers will go to the authorities, but the California Labor Commissioner’s Office reports about 200 complaints involving immigration threats since 2025. That’s nearly as many as during the entire four years of President Joe Biden’s administration.

Employment attorney Ruth Silver Taube supervises a legal advice line in Santa Clara and San Mateo counties. She’s also supervising attorney of the workers’ rights practice at Santa Clara University’s School of Law.

“I do believe that this is the tip of the iceberg, and that there’s many, many more of these immigration-related threats,” said Silver Taube. “These threats are designed to deter workers from coming forward. And I think they’re successful.”

Under federal and state laws, employees have the right to minimum wage and other workplace protections regardless of their immigration status. Threatening a worker for trying to exercise those rights is illegal.

Some managers don’t know that, says Paul DeCamp, an attorney in Washington D.C. who represents employers. He’s a former administrator at the U.S. Department of Labor.

“If a manager or supervisor gets annoyed, perhaps because the workers are talking about unionizing, or they’re complaining about working conditions, or otherwise asserting their rights, the manager or a supervisor, in an attempt to try to take control of the situation may make a threat like this, which of course is illegal,” said DeCamp.

“We do not collaborate with the federal government,” said California Labor Commissioner Lilia Garcia Brower. She says her agency collaborates closely with advocates and community leaders to educate employers and workers.

“We do not ask about immigration status. We don’t ask for social security numbers. And it is safe for them to proceed in cooperating with us.”

That said, every worker is making an individual calculation as to how safe they actually are.

A bill that just landed on the Governor’s desk would clarify the law to say that ALL threats to call immigration – even if preemptive – are illegal, and punishable with up to $10,000 dollars in penalties per violation. The governor has until the end of September to sign or veto the measure.